Verifying last 2 years of rental history very important!

And most importantly own it. 

Durability is so important—nothing more stressful than scrambling to replace a piece of furniture between bookings!

I will be the contractor and do some work by myself, no hurry, and I hope to keep it around $30k.David what did you learn that you feel is important/not important?

That is just not realistic in this current market.So in my opinion it's important to expose yourself to a large number of deals, so you can develop an intuitive sense of what's reasonable and what's not (and quickly discard the ones that aren't).And it's true that there is no way to 100% protect from fraud (and not just in passive real estate investments but even in public stocks etc.).

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the Cape Coral/fort Meyers area, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

As a rental strategy for non owner occupants, it absolutely is a fantastic way to generate the highest return, that's true.....but also, and most importantly, your screening has to be on point, and without that, it won't be as effective because one bad roommate can ruin the environment for the other roommate tenants. 

For me cash flow is more important for now

While the $600 per month insurance bill is hefty, I remind myself that being closer to the ocean would have meant even higher costs.One of the key lessons I've learned is the importance of timing.

It's important to keep in mind that everyone you hire is providing you a service - no one is guaranteeing you any outcome.